2013.05.03 - Bloody Morning in Tibet
Keeping tabs on the cults of the Elder Gods is something Stormwatch has been doing since their ‘High Priest’, Ang (better known as Vandal Savage) managed to steal control of Limbo from Illyana and came dangerously close to free the Elder Gods on Earth. Lately, it became clear the cultists were up to something. A cell in Europe had managed to find coded documents in some ancient Nazi safe box in Switzerland, and sent them to Boston so some hotshot occultist could decipher them. Subtle as a rock, they kidnapped the occultist. Stormwatch rescued the old man about an hour ago, and he went straight to the medlab, but before the man slipped into coma, he had something very important to reveal. The documents revealed that shortly before the end of the war a Nazi spy had managed to locate the legendary Egg of Dhammpada, a mystical artifact of unknown power they had lost to British agents during the war. Definitely it does not sound like the kind of thing not-crazy people wants in the hands of the Elder Gods. Looks like the team has a mission in Tibet. Pack up warm clothes. There is nothing gentle about going gently into the night. Then again, the attack did come at dawn for the small no-name Buddhist Temple in the heights of Tibet. Even the birds were silent that morning as snow still clings to the ground and crunched beneath the foots of crazed soldiers that the Elder Gods breathed their madness into. None wore masks, and it made it seem all the more real that way as they did wear bullet proof vests, carried guns and blades, and let out a crazed roar when the bazooka went off and blew a chunk of the small village surrounding the temple into nothing, but debris. No survivors, that was the call in the obscene language they spoke, the ancient language of the Elder Gods. And the screams rose to the cold morning area as the sun began to bleed upon the horizon. At the temple, there was chaos as many of the monks were already awake. Shen herself was as well, heart pounding at the cries of pain and suffering, of terror and fear that rose into the crisp air. Still, the monks order Swift to flee and hide, and pushed her into the temple, toward the secret chamber where her egg once was kept. < No, please! Let me help. These are my people and family too! > She hurt, hearing those cries, and not doing anything about it. The monks began to get into position. Trained for centuries in the ancient Tibetian arts, they will defend Shen with their very lives (which is of course pains the young woman). They gather under cover to prevent the bullets from finding them so easily as they know the armed soldiers will be coming. Nate added a coat to his uniform. Not his coat, he must have borrowed it somewhere. The destination coordinates put the place pretty high and in the middle of nowhere, the closest village has a name the young man is not going to attempt to pronounce. The monastery is not in the map, so maybe it is just some old ruins. The Void system teleports Nate and Rose in the slope of a very white, very tall mountain. It all snowy and icy, and close to freezing. The village is maybe half a mile away, but the sound of guns and explosions can be heard clearly in the crisp morning air. "Looks like we got here late, good thing we didn't wait for Yana and the others." There is only so warm you can go before you are dressed like the little brother from Christmas story. Rose is in her black and red uniform, once she read over the reading in the HALO system she had already headed off to change - thankfully the suit bearing its own thermalizing and regualting temperature, but it did not mean she ignored the fact that some levels of temperature were just too cold even for her at first. She only had one coat, that black leather with maille plating down the cleeves, but instead of opened it was zipped shut, fingers fumbling over the buckles at her sides to adjust and cinch it to form fitting tightness, swords strapped in an X across her back and at the ready. "Better late then never." Rose states as they step into the snowing chill of Tibetan mountains, her white hair blowing across her face and nearly lost to the natural climate and backdrop. Cold. The two of you will need to run quickly or fly to get there in a short amount of time, but another explosion is gone off by a bazooka, blowing away someone or someone's life or lives away with it as a few houses are destroyed. Already a team has been dispatched to the temple, and the first interaction between the soldiers and the monks reveal that though this is the first true battle the middle to young monks have faced, their training has not failed them. Throats are crushed effectively, and whispers prays are made for the souls, as people are thrown and heads are knocked about as monks slip from their hiding places. And yet, not all goes well for the monks while guns ratta-tat-tat through the cold morning air and cut their own lives short. Inside the temple, Shen cannot take anymore when she hears the cry of one the monks she has known since childhood. She ends up fighting one of the elder monks that is trying to force her into fighting and forces him to take a step back before she is running toward the nearest exit. Her wings rustle behind her and she is fleet of foot. She wears a feminine version almost of what the monks wear, little to protect against the cold as if the elements are merely another test of their strength and dedictation toward enlightenment. Nate is feeling the deaths in the village, so that is where he is going. “Rose, get to the temple, they are looking for something there, some artifact. But those bastards are also massacring the villagers, so I am going to stop them and then I’ll join you. Hurry!” He takes off and flies at nearly supersonic speed towards the village, looking for the cultist with the explosives, or whatever they are using to demolish the houses. But the first thing he sees is some armed thugs. Not Vandal’s robots or demons, just human thugs armed and shooting helpless people. His left eye flares, the first psychokinetic blast is way too strong for human targets, but some kinds of people just need to die. Rose depresses a button, Void easily taking her form from standing on a ridge to a narby area beside the temples, the wind howling over an opening to the 'ruins' as the inhaler she had taken a long pull from is tucked back away. The backdrop of screams and the turnaround Nate wrought in the distance enough to bring a flick of a smile to her lips as she reaches over her shoulders and draws her swords with a hiss to sweep through the chill bluster as she pushes forward into a run, one that is carrying her through the opening into the fray, a soldier to her left spinning as the white haired woman enters, leveling his weapon unto her only to be met with the upward sweep of her sword, seeking to easily remove the trigger happy appendage and render it useless. "Killing peaceful holy people. Tsk. No pity for the majority." No holds barred. Rose actually has to go through the village to get to the temple, as the village has grown up around the temple some time ago. The only thing modern really in this place appears to be an old biplane that is for agricultural use in the background. It would normally be a peaceful scene, but for the small group shooting bazookas off from the edge of the village, and the bloodshed and death now happening. Nate may hear the slight sharp sound of a handgun going off, out of place with the high military grade weapons. Someone near where the plane is parked is shooting a handgun at the soldiers and retreating. He looks a little different from the others here, likely Chinese. The sheer number would be intimidating to merely two superheroes, as it seems overwhelming to those not trained to deal with the impossible. In the meantime, Shen is bursting from the temple, to see the death of those that have loved and protected her through the years, and others fighting for their lives. Her eyes are wide, horrified at what is before her, something that has not touched her life before now really. They have only been stories before now. There is a cry as a solider points at her, and that ancient, gruesome language is spoken through the walkie talkies, and Rose and Nate would be able to heal that twisted language bursting out to inform their comrades that the egg appears to have already hatched. That is when Shen finally moves to act, unshed tears in her eyes. She was raised by these Buddhists, trained in the ancient arts. All are connected, and if the suffering continues, all the sacrifices before will mean nothing. She does not think, her body trained to act as she moves forward to attack, a leg coming up to knee someone so hard they actually go flying backwards, bones crushed. But Shen is already moving to the next even as bullets start to be aimed at her and fly past her. A shot from one bullet imbedding itself inside her flesh and muscles, but doing little difference other than the shock of pain which draws an inhuman cry from her and the talons on her fingers to grow. The soldiers that lives are cut short by Rose give cry to the Elder Gods with their own sacrifice, and only because one witnessed it from some distance away does he manage to get a partial warning out to the other soldiers of Rose's presence before he is sliced down. @emit Nate’s TK blast hit with the force of a canon shell, crushing cultists and shattering the ground where it lands. Then he spots the group with the rocket launchers. “You like overkill, uh? Fine!” His next blast hits among that group, hard enough to blow them up into tiny bits. At that point he is hovering about thirty feet over the village, trying to find the cultists and making himself a big target. If they shot at him they won’t be shooting civilians, and his telekinesis can take almost anything. Ravager is moving with a swift alacrity, even as cries form and heads turn, followed in suit by the weapons and the barking sounds of bullets Rose keeps moving. Cries from one set of lips to anothers all melded into one for Ravager, but her focus does not stray, its set as she leaps from one statue, hooking a hand over the stone mottled in sprayed blood to swing her sround in time to miss bullets and land a booted heel into a face, releasing to follow through. Brutal, nearly mindless and mechanical, but efficient. Nate's plan does work somewhat, at least until they realize that shooting at him is useless and he is only blowing them away. That is when something change, an almost whisper goes through them, and a dark power gives arise within the area. There is a dark whisper trying to bypass Nate's telepathic shields, a horriable, incessent whisper that can prove deadly distracting and painful if given into. And just as the whisper works to get louder and louder, there is suddenly a psionic blast toward Nate as he stands up there, one of dark power. A twisted being, once human, but far from that anymore stands in the open. Its twisted mouth opens and laughs as a hand rises to toss another psionic blast of dark power at Nate. The villages are running to try and retreat to the temple, but the temple already has a team attacking there, they are caught in the cross-fire. The Chinese man with the handgun and deminishing ammo is shooting and trying to redirect the panicked villagers. That is what Ravager finally comes upon as she works toward the temple while Nate remains in the village. Inside the temple grounds, the blood stains the snow, and the claws are slicing flesh as Shen moves through the enemies, taking the bullet shots and bleeding, but still moving forward to save as many of her family as she can. The monks are fighting, but their training is hand-to-hand and from war of old, some pull out staffs and use implements found nearby such as a snow shovel and uses it as a deadly weapon. The monks will grieve for the lives lost, and the cycle of violence when it is done and over with, but for now, they know they most protect Shen whom has been prophesized, and move to get the soldiers to stop shooting at her. Even her wings have become a weapon, when too many crowd by, they lash out mightily to send men flying. The men are not as numerous now, but they are no less a threat, and Ravager can see how the villages if they continue to run to the temple will make matters worse. Nate was expecting something like that. The cultists have supernatural backers, after all. Either some high-tech device or robot, or a demon or... not a psychic, but it works. In fact it works just fine, trying to face him where he is stronger. “Should have keep trying with rocket launchers, little demon,” he growls, his psi-shields taking the hits but holding. Brute force is unlikely to tear down mind-shields like Nate’s. Then he charges at the man/demon/monster, whatever it is, aiming to deliver a telekinetically charged punch on his laughing face. Psionics can be magic based as well, and this one's magic taps into the magic of the Elder Gods. This one though doesn't just have psionics, but magic as he suddenly teleports away to shoot toward your back from behind you instead. He will be a slippery one! "You...will meet your doom...mortal," the twist being says as blackness comes from his mouth. The villages are running to try and retreat to the temple, but the temple already has a team attacking there, they are caught in the cross-fire. The Chinese man with the handgun and deminishing ammo is shooting at the soliders and trying to redirect the panicked villagers away from the temple and the village. Nate grunts, his telekinetically charged fist hitting only air. “Yeah, I hear that a lot,” he replies, turning swiftly to face the monster. “But funny, you are the one running. And those little tricks are not going to save you.” This time he replies the psychic blast with one of his own. But he uses just a fraction of his power, it is an unfocused attack and not a threat to a strong mind. The bulk of his attention is behind his opponent, where he is picking a shovel with telekinesis and bringing it against the cultist back at deadly speed. The cultist deflects the attack toward him as if it was nothing, "You fool, this will be the last you have heard it!" He does not notice the shovel coming up from his behind as the telepathic attack strengthens and another shot of dark psionic power comes flying at you more powerful than before. But that's good right? It should mean his defenses are less concentrated. "Never ceases..." Ravager mutters as she plunges into the backing spray of bullets that send villagers moving from one point to another like a herded school of fish from sharks. Her path is cut by the screams of innocents, a woman falling and Ravager grabbing her and throwing her back in a forceful slide across the snow covered ground to just miss a ricocheting array of bullets, that send loose snow up in a sparkling mist of beauty - but mixed with blood as a bullet grazes her thigh, her head snapping back in the prelude to pushing back and away herself, waiting for pause. Once the man stops and hefts his weapon, a breath in time Ravager is pushing forward again, leaping for him with swords crossed before her chest in a scissor like sweep, aiming to bring them down on the china man and knock him back to pin him to the ground beneath x'd blades. A soldier gets too close to the villages, and Rose soon has him pinned and...headless. The Chinese man had raised his gun at that point, but then quickly moves it away from Ravager when he realizes she is attacking the soliders to shoot a soldier in the head that is heading toward them. He yells at the villages some more, getting them to move around to the back of the temple and some rocks there to hide. Though if Ravager can understand Mandarin, she will hear the Chinese man yell at her, < Save Shen! She is too important! > Shen? But he pointed toward the temple as he then concentrates on protecting the villages with what little fire power he has. Inside the temple there are cries of pain and death, Shen has fallen to one knee which makes the monks seem to work all the harder around her. But she does not remain there, soon forcing herself to push up into the air and twist her body as she does a short dive at a sniper at the edge, his body pausing just beyond the entrance with his chest caved in from the impact, and a brief flash of a feathered wing as Shen spins to move to help the others. The villagers! But all she mostly thinks about right now are those currently surrounding her. Even the elders have come out to fight, and some to die. Nate is also concentrating into something else than his defenses, so that stronger psychic blast make his shields crack and he takes a step back. “Not bad, I almost felt that. And goodbye, sucker.” There is an ugly ‘crunch’ sound as the shovel hits the back of the cultist so hard it shatters the ribcage and sprouts several inches from his chest, severing spine, heart and both lungs. “Now, who is next?” The cultist starts to shudder and fall to his knees as the shovel peeks out from his chest. He then slumps forward, no further twitch left him in, his body soon seeming to become a sickening goo. There are still villagers hiding, and soldiers trying to hunt them down, and of course the treating villages with only a handgun to attempt to cover their escape route against military grade weapons. There is still plenty to do. Ravager does not speak Mandarin, but she knows what the signing is as well as reading the slight panic in his face in regards to getting within the temple. Something there is why they are attacking and once she is there it would not be hard to see who/what. No hesitation again, she offers the Chinese man a sharp nod and moves towards the temple opening, springing through the coverage with sweeping swords. And who did not even remotely seem friendly she was aiming for. Vitals, necessities.... The glint of fine honed steel cuts through the hazed light cast through snowfall and ruin, cutting their own path of the same. Once within she sees /Shen/, a winged creature bearing her own spiritual effigy of a Fallen angel brought down by human means. "Huh.." Is all that is pushed past lips, the fog of warm breath metting chilled air pluming before her face. This must be what has the man outside in his panic-borne frenzy, and thusly the root of the problem and what the monks were protecting. Not another moment taken during heartbeat, her chilled blue gaze is taking a count, as well as tactical locations, moving forward again and leaving behind a set of bloodied footprints. And some said the drugs were bad for Ravager.. Nate curses when he sees the cultists are still trying to kill villagers, despite his best effort. Crazy, crazy bloodthirsty bastards. He takes the air again, trying to locate every loving mind in the village and systematically hitting the cultists with his powers, starting by those shooting villagers or close to find hiding villagers. He contacts with Rose through telepathy |"Rose? Are you alright? I have my hands full with murderers and need another minute or three"| Each breath wrought another movement. Not trained like these monks, it is a different art form, but since childhood she had carried these swords and they moved like she is using her own limbs, a dance that sent the spray of red in an artistic Rorscach across the temple floor. In her mind she could be back in the dojo, surrounded by teachers, under the watchful gaze fo her mother... and him. Who she sought to make proud for some fractured reason. Reason and logic seemed broken save for the forces fighting in unison to protect the winged woman in the center, the respective nod only given a fleeting glance in return - that silent acknowledgement between allies as Ravager gets near enough to Swift to speak, shouting above the barking cracks of gunfire. "Can you fly?" Looking at Swift she attempts to hold her gaze, maybe she would get the hint, that unspoken word. It would keep Swift aloft, and if she could carry Ravager, she could be the acrobatic aerial weapon as well as gain a vantage... << I got this locked down, Nate. What is it like out there? >> Maybe a little lie but mostly it is truth, but betting she has jinxed herself with over-confidence. It is this power that manages Nate to save so many villager lives this early morning that Nate unleashes, even if those crazy, dark minds have to be touched oh so briefly before they cut off into nothingness. Surprise and a bit of humanity enters Shen's eyes once more when she hears the English, "Yes," the word halting, but clear and in English. |"I am alright, they are trying to kill the villagers instead of fighting me. Bastards!"| Or maybe they are keeping him busy while they get to the Egg. The thought crosses his mind, but he can't leave these folks defenceless; he will have to hope Rose can handle the enemies in the monastery grounds. <> Ravager replies to Nate just before Swift grants her a response, a smile on her lips as she eyes Swift and then looks up, swinging her swords back to line up the back of her arms. "They're protecting you, let's make this hard on the bad guys and distract them so you don't lose more.." As Ravager speaks she gestures to the fighting monks. "Can you carry me, just low enough to take them out, better view.." Though as she asks one of the gunmen is racing forward, her response one that has her lunging back towards him, those swords snapping out from their braced rest, her arm swining around like she would elbow him but instead the blade is what is sweeping towards center mass. << I think I found...who they want. >> Shen is unsure, but she nods, "I...can try, fly low, yes?" She then moves to grip Ravager after she finishes off the last attacker. Her grip is strong on Rose's back belt and just below Ravager's chest where her arm wraps about. Her wings, bloodied, beat and suddenly the two are air bourne with a rush of air around them. Shen seems to move almost on a dime within the air as she tilts her wings and her body twists, and she starts to sweep low to the ground with Ravager carefully gripped/held. |"A who and not a what?"| It is not what Nate expected, but never mind. |"Can you protect that person? We need to finish with all these goons, they are more interested in the slaughter than in their mission!"| Nate is going through them, but he is having to hunt them down one after another. "Fly how you want, let's end this so we can go help the others..." Ravager states just before she is picked up, her swords retracting back again, avoidant of Swifts body and harming her on accident when they are put to use. "They're killing everyone." Finishing that sentence now as she adjust to the hold and sums up what Nate is mentally telling her, while responding. <> Swift can get as acrobatic as she wants and fight as well, Ravager is taking advantage of this height and counting heads as well as locations of these gunmen, one just beneath her and Swift in that low altitude carry that has her plunging a sword down into his shoulder, rendering his gun-arm useless. An inhuman, high pitched sound comes from Shen's throat, but is quickly stiffled, "Such..cruelty...why?" She cannot understand it. Shen though picks up speed with ease even bloodied as she is. Her wings stretch out and she twists and turns sharply, careful to keep a good grip on you as she brings you about to one opponent to another, at the ones shooting from a distance at the monks, and when a monk appears about to go down, Ravager will feel as if she is suddenly there, a dizzying display of speed and acrobatics in the air. Nate can perhaps see Ravager and Shen up in the air when they go up before diving down and into twisting turns. When Shen pauses one wounded man that seems about to reach for a weapon with his spare hand, her feet transform immediately and lash out as she beats her wings to take to the sky once more. Those talons on her feet shred him as he is left behind. This seems to be a more efficent tactic for Shen when there are overwhelming numbers like this, as the monks fall less often now and the numbers of the enemy soldiers are starting to noticably decrease. Nate finally manages to clear the village of killers and flies upwards to the monastery, seeing Rose and the winged woman. |"I get it. Egg first. Then bird-woman. Very logical, or something."| He jumps into the fight around the monastery, but this time he needs to be careful not to hit friendlies, so he goes hand to hand instead of blasting, punching and kicking with bone-breaking strength, glowing golden within his telekinetic shield. Ravager easily manages this, and it is easier on the thigh that seeps blood from a bullet wound she had managed to put to the back of her mind with the pushing adrenaline from her inhaler. The blinding and dizzying speeds only disorient Ravager for seconds, gathering herself to easily swing swords into those within reach, one man nearly being lifted off his feet as well while impaled by the blades before she swings him to the side, tucking up and into Swift as bullets zip past them by one man blindly firing now at the assault that is closing in around them, aerial and ground. << I don't speak their language, but she is who the monks are protecting. Process of elimination. >> Behind the monastery, there is a walled area, that was who know what back in the day. Right now, villages are behind it, cowering. Only a Chinese man with a handgun and only about twenty bullets left takes careful aim at soldiers approaching to fire at them, trying to make every bullet count. He holds a hand to his ribs, a gun shot...he thinks one of them are fractured, but he does not stop moving to protect the village that took him in. Within the temple grounds, Shen twists and turns in the air to once more bring Ravager into range of the soldiers, her talon feet lashing out at one that gets too close to their path when the dart down to actually pick him up as she grunts and uses the air lift to help her pick up more than she normally good before fling the solider into another one and sending them tumbling. Ravager's blade does terrible damage to the enemy, and Nate is also there, lashing out at them, as the monks are now splitting up as the speak in their native languages, some of the monks wounded and unable to fight - but still alive - are being dragged inside by others to try and tend the damage, to save their lives now that help as arrived. Being dumped someplace by Void is something Superboy is slightly accustomed to considering Illyana tends to do that very same thing from time to time. Landing face first in to the side of rockwall and mountain Kon slides down it like a bug smeared on a windshield before pushing himself free of it to catch the sounds of fighting. With Stormwatch's line of /work/ you don't mistake that breed of noise. Scrambling upwards and to the edge of the village Kon looks the carnage over and can't help but feel a rage boiling up inside of him. He's not been briefed but he's a quick enough thinker to realize what has gone down. Men with guns are usually the badguys anyways not to mention he can see Nate sailing away at high TK assisted speeds. About ready to take off movement catches him from the corner of his eyes and he sees one of those gun-toting terrorists taking aim on Nate's backside about to squeeze the trigger. Superboy quickly lunges in the way causing bullets to bounce off his chest. The confused man is then disarmed and knock-out slapped with his own weapon that is promptly snapped in half before the half-Kryptonian is leaping after where he believes the rest of his team is, the monastery. He'll remember to thank Void for the lack of a debriefing or the time to even get dressed. Yes, Superboy is hopping around in Pacman boxers and a tanktop with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. Nate is quite bullet-proof at the moment. Or mostly bullet-proof. But Conner arrival is welcomed. "So you decided to join us at last? Welcome. I bet you forgot we were going to hit Ang's cultists today." Which does not quite explain what they are doing in the middle of Tibet, fighting crazy gunmen that chant in demonic tongues. But the details can wait. "There is a group of villagers on the back of the monastery, can you do a super-fast sweep there and see they are safe? I think we got this side under control." "This is working out better then I thought." Ravager states, having only caught one glimpse of Swifts shifted legs with a brow raising, but as soon as it is seen - wings and all, she souldnt be surprised, so her moment of pause is very brief, well... Just as brief as the pause when Conner shows up in his colorful display of late-night waking. One more sweeping decline though and Ravager is back to her work, glancing up at Swift and grinning. This, she could get used to. After one more dive down, Shen looks about from up high as she shifts her wings to almost glide. "The ruin walls, behind the temple!" This is called out to the...very colorfully dressed boy which causes Shen to blink. What is he wearing?! Still, it will only be after the swift moves of Superboy, that Shen will feel secure in moving back to what she has on hand, diving back down so that Ravager can make her blades dance and sing through the air, picking off the shooters. Even when one aims too close to Ravager, Shen seems to curl her wings inward to shield her before whipping out to catch them before the fall and beating to rise up and dive down again. Blood is splattered over her wings, making the white feather seem almost red instead, and her clothing is a darker red than it should be. Her breathing is coming more difficult, but that is the only signs of her injuries she displays right now. Luckily, all the wounds are shallow. "Really?" Superboy snaps, "Another one where I end up the reserve guy. Cool. You guys really need to start calling me in sooner." The angry teenager grumbles before doing just that - sweeping in back to check on civilians. Even carrying two or three back there to make sure they're safe and out of harms way. It's really all a blur of movement, there and back, there and back. Superspeed is at least something he can manage, flight never works out so well. "Everyone is fine. They're all safe and I'll round up the stragglers." He says in one of his passes to Nate before doing as requested. Leaving the monastery and designated /front/ to Nate and Ravager. Li is shocked and yells something in Mandarin at Superboy, though when he too finds himself out of bullets and in front of the temple, the villages are quick to help him inside for medical attention and away from the soldiers. There are soldiers trying to get to where the villages were, leaving Superboy to handle them. Wait, they have to call him sooner? Nate snorts. And punches a cultist extra-hard for /that/. They have been fighting just a few minutes, but this kind of intense combat is starting to wear him down. “Will you give up already?” He asks rhetorically to the next goon, who keeps shooting at him ineffectually. Nate breaks his jaw for his troubles, turns to face the next goon and... there is none, just a number of unconscious, injured or dead cultists littering the ground around him. Only a handful of the gunmen remain, and the others seem to be on them. Ravager feels Swifts faltering, turning in her grip as the bullets aim but are absorbed by those wings. Blinking, her jaw sets firmly into a line, the straps that held the blades sheath onto her back being undone, freeing her from Swift's grip to send her towards the ground and the few remaining gunmen. "You need to take cover, you're hurt!" How hurt Ravager could not tell, but it took that slight waver, that quivering falter to make her take in the blood that soaked her attire and the mottling on her wings from saving her from another spray. Landing from that drop, Ravager used one as her cushion, though not necessarily one when covered in vesting and toting a large heavy weapon, her wounded leg was not going to take the brunt of it though, and from the laying position on the one shouting and confused man, one sword stands down into him, through his shoulder and pinning him in place while the other lashes out, using the imbedded one and the writhing body of her captive as support to keep her swinging and hopefully enough distraction from Swift. Shen's wings spreading to try and stop what would be a bad fall, and when closer to the gorund, Ravager twists from her arms and escapes, the winged girl letting go of her belt as she feels her resisting. It is perhaps for the best, cause another flap and half as they say, Shen is hitting the ground roughly. One of the monks are soon by her side. Small gunfire would not bother her at all, but this...is lodging in her flesh and muscle. Nothing life threatening, but each movement is pain as she can feel the bullets within her muscles...they will take time to heal fully. "The others," but the monk is moving to lift Shen up into his arms and run toward the temple with her. She shouts something in Tibetan, but she cannot fight the monk right now. Shen is taken inside with the other wounded, where she has to bite back her own screams when some of the better off monks are trying to get the bullets from her wounds and stop the bleeding. The fact she is alert at all and pushed herself that far, reflects her strength of will. Still, her thoughts are on the ones missing, and the ones out there still fighting, even there are only a few enemies left. Mandarin? Kon doesn't speak Mandarin. He'll just assume the guy is thanking him especially after he bounds over a small building and lands in the center of the soldiers who are trying to get to the villagers. You're welcome Asian friend. More of that blur style combat follows as Superboy grabs one surpriesd soldier and hefts him up in the air snatching his weapon away to break it much like he had the other before, the man is then launched towards two of his comrades and then Kon is ontop of two others *clunking* their heads together and then he is on the next flicking the guy in the chest to send him ankles over shoulders and so on until he has dealt with all the threats in a brutal yet surprisingly gentle fashion (all things considered). Their weapons all scooped up and tossed in a pile to be melted in a crackle popping ball of slag. Not a single death resulting. He's not a killer and if he finds out Rose and Nate have been slaughtering people it's probably going to turn out fairly ugly. Clapping his hands together he pulls his toothbrush out of his mouth and frowns at it. It's broken in half. Did he swallow the rest? OH NO!? Holding his throat Superboy starts to wretch and hack doing a half dance in a circle. Fortunately for the Metropolis Kid he won't die from ingesting half a toothbrush. Nate certainly didn’t go as easy with the cultists as Conner, but many of those he hit are still alive, in particular those around the monastery. He was gentler on those trying to kill him than those trying to kill helpless villagers. Now comes the second part of the winning battle, round up prisoners and try to save your wounded. At least he knows the basics of first aid, and telepathy makes up for not knowing the local tongue. He goes to check with Rose first, though, and help her into the temple. “Are you okay... you are bleeding!” Ravager... Can't say the same. Many that she hit are dead, or damn close to dying if the bleeding isn't staunched. It tends to be the case when you throw her into a battle these past few weeks unless any alive are needed. Pushing to a stand, she leans on the one sword imbedded in the man like it is a cane, watching as Swift is carried off by her faithful followers and shoulders rising in a hunch at the screams she knows are the pains of bullet removal and TLC to the heavily damaged. Wanna do that to her? Knock her the fuck out. When Nate approaches and inspects Ravager looks down, and then up at him, jerking the sword free of the man beneath her to let him release his screams of pain and curse openly while he writhes there. "Tends to happen. I'm okay..." Sweeping to be sure Nate is okay while he helps her in, her gaze is pulled off by another of Swifts screams and she is looking towards where they took her... "Not as bad as her." Then to Kon... Watching him in his dance. "New winning dance ritual?" Blink. The tears that finally fall from Shen's eyes are not from the physical pain, but the emotional, as she speaks in rapid Tibetean asking for name some of the monks, and hearing that they have moved on to be reborn. She is finally given an herbal drink to help numb the pain, and she bites back the worse of the sounds. Others have worse. The beating that the villagers and temple have taken will leave its marks for decades. It is actually one of the younger monks that come over to bow. He appears injured, but nothing severe, though his eyes appear deadfully sad and grieved. He speaks in quiet and slow Tibetean toward the two already there, and Superboy too if he had joined them in time. < Thank you for assisting us in our time of need. The loss of life on either side is a terrible thing, as we are all one. Yet, Shen Li-Min has been protected, and the future peace of the world will still be. > He bows deeply and sincerely. < We have little to offer, but may we tend your injuries? > The retching subsides and Kon ceases his dance to rejoin the others. His hair a mess and his tanktop tattered and ripped up by bulletholes to tears otherwise he is fine. The levity of the situation descending upon him has him frowning, "Is everyone okay?" His blue eyes looking each of his teammates over and the odd looking new girl with the wings. "No dancing for Rose for a week or two," mentions Nate to the others. He looks fine, at least no new injuries, although his ribs are not yet fully healed from last time. "Lets see that bird-girl..." the young monk finds going into the temple. His words make no sense, so he goes straight for his thoughts, and translates for the other two. "Looks like the bird-girl has some kind of prophecy going around her." He checks something. "And the cultists believe it so. Weird, who makes up all those prophecies?" When Kon gets close enough Ravager looks him over, though she should not be surprised the junior man of steel only has burn marks and holes peppering his....Adorable attire. Rolling her eyes she slowly pulls away from the assisted walk with Nate, grumbling and bitching while she resheathes her swords. "Can't dance, watch me walk, I'll be fine.... Rub it in..." Limp...mutter...limp...bitch. "Everybody looks for something to believe in anything. Even people like us." She states rather pointedly as they approach where they had Swift, leaning against the stone wall and folding her arms indignantly over her chest. The young man seems confused a bit about 'who makes them up', but he does work with others to tend the wounds for Ravager if she will permit them after the translation. Shen has people tending to her, and getting quite a number of bullets out and into a cup. Bandages are keeping her decent when they put on an herbal medicine and wrap her up. Tears streak down her cheeks and she breathes harshly, mostly to keep the sobs in. So many lost...and the grief if evident in how her shoulders shake and the monks shhing her and do thier best to tend the shivering girl. Superboy offers an odd probably out of place bow to the monk who was speaking it's what you do right? Since he's seen it done in TV after all. "I suppose I should ask what happened here but it's pretty obvious." Kon says quietly before he gives a one armed hug and shoulder pat to the crying girl. "There there... bird... lady... person..." His frown still present, however, especially as he looks over the bloody weapon of Rose and had witnessed some of the TK crushed soldiers below. That'll have to come up in a conversation later. When the team isn't surrounded by strangers. Looks like it is not a good moment to talk with the winged woman. So instead Nate goes to help with the injured, and tries to get in touch with Halo to see if he can convince Void to teleporting in some medical supplies. Category:Log